Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Poets and Poems: Dave Malone and “O”

My
first experience with the Ozark Mountains was virtual – a novel called The
Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks by the late Donald Harington.
It was published in 1975; I read it about 1980 and thought it hilarious. A few
years later, we spent a long weekend in Branson, before it was discovered by
all the big name entertainers and when Silver Dollar City at the duck boats
were the bog attractions.

It
was then that I learned about The Shepherd of
the Hills and the Bald Knobbers, a group of vigilantes who were still
fighting the Civil War for the North in the 1880s, their enemy being the Anti-Bald
Knobbers, who sided with the south. I also discovered that St. Louis is considered
to be in the foothills of the Ozarks, surprising, since the Ozarks about 100
miles away. And we’ve spent several long weekends at Lake of the Ozarks,
created way-back-when by a dam and today a heavy tourist draw Missouri.

So
my knowledge of the Ozarks was essentially limited to what any observant
tourist might know. And I didn’t consider the movie Winter’s Bone to
present an accurate portrayal of life in the Ozarks, either.

A Light Shining

Dancing Priest

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Professional writer exploring faith and culture, life and work; happily married to Janet, the love of my life; father of two grown sons. Award-winning speechwriter and communication consultant. I am also a contributing editor for The High Calling and for TweetSpeak Poetry. I am also the author of the novels "Dancing Priest" and "A Light Shining," and the non-fiction book "Poetry at Work."